Bola Tinubu And Our Oil Sector

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The #EndBadGovernment protests largely flopped partially because they demanded for the restoration of the petrol subsidy. In life, better be careful what you wish for because it might actually come true!

*Tinubu

If for any reason President Bola Tinubu acceded to this demand, the engine of his government would knock. Petrol is selling between N640 and N800 per litre, and it is still scarce. Imagine returning it to N180? All petrol stations will close shop, and we will be buying at the black market between N1,500 and N2,000 per litre. The train has left the subsidy station, and it will never come back.

Why Ethnic Profiling Must Stop!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

It would have been funny if it were not so DANGEROUS! When Muhammadu Buhari was in power, there was ethnic profiling of the Igbo people in the North. Some sponsored “youth coalitions” gave Ndi Igbo quit notice in 2017 because of Biafra agitations in the South-East, which arose from Buhari’s 97%/5% formula of Igbo exclusion.

*Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu and and his wife, Tinubu

Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu co-founded the All Progressives Congress, APC, which has never enjoyed Igbo support.

Ndi Igbo constitute by far the second largest ethnic group in Lagos after the Yoruba indigenous residents. They control the commercial sector of Africa’s sixth largest economy, especially the markets and a sizeable slice of property ownership. They contribute a hefty chunk of the internal revenue that sets Lagos apart compared to the rest of the 36 states. Under a normal political atmosphere, the Igbo population in Lagos should be courted because of their electoral and economic values.

Bayo Onanuga’s Slimy Mud-Bath

 By Ochereome Nnanna

For his own purposes, President Bola Tinubu had delayed the appointment of Bayo Onanuga as one of his spokesmen. Ajuri Ngelale, broadcast journalist and Ogoni chief, was presented to give Tinubu’s media office a handsome, though unsmiling face.

*Peter Obi 

Many commentators were relieved that elements like Bayo Onanuga, Dele Alake and Festus Keyamo would not be brought to irritate the nerves of decent Nigerians with their tawdry, noisy and cheap propaganda antics which we saw during the campaigns for the 2023 general elections in Tinubu’s camp. This feeling was further reinforced when Alake was posted to the Solid Minerals Ministry and Keyamo taken to Aviation.

Bandits And Arewanistan Agenda?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

For sure, banditry, especially kidnapping for ransom, is one of the three security challenges in Northern Nigeria. The others are Boko Haram/ISWA terrorism in the North-East, and Fulani herdsmen militia, a nationwide terror network.

In the South, kidnapping for ransom is in the hands of local criminal gangs. Even our battered Nigeria Police Force, NPF, are still largely on top of their game. The recent rescue of the Fouani brothers kidnapped while jollificating on the waterways of Lagos, was achieved by the Police. When was the last time you heard the Police doing much about the rage of banditry in the North?

Nigeria: Renewed Wailing!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

Femi Adesina, Muhammadu Buhari’s star-struck admirer who later got employed by the Daura politician when he achieved his presidential ambition in 2015, left us with a number of acidic soundbites as a presidential spokesman. Two of them stood out.

*Bola Tinubu

The first was not exactly a soundbite, but was summarised for him into that by his colleagues in the media. Reacting to the Fulani herdsmen terrorism which his boss, Buhari, allowed (some say he facilitated it and protected the culprits with his presidential powers), Adesina shocked Nigerians with his coldblooded dismissiveness of the massacres, displacement and occupation of farming communities by the invaders.

Hamas’ Mission Impossible

 By Ochereome Nnanna

On October 7, 2023, the Jewish State of Israel suffered the most painful, unprovoked terrorist assault on its innocent citizens who were holidaying. What an irony that they were attacked while celebrating the Festival of Sukkot, marking God’s protection of their Biblical ancestors in the desert on their epic journey from the land of enslavement, Egypt, to the Promised Land! It fell on a Sabbath Day, and people relaxed at home, while some youngsters attended a music festival at Kibbutz Re’im in Southern Israel.

It was on such a day that Hamas invaded Israel by land and air. They breached the border fences and flew paragliders through the Israeli airspace. They attacked unsuspecting, innocent and unarmed soldiers and civilians, massacred, slaughtered, raped, tortured and dehumanised Israeli citizens. The details of their atrocities are available in cybersphere for those who have the stomach to view them.

Judiciary’s Double Standards, A Danger To Our Democracy

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The Constitution gives our Judiciary a role – sacred one at that – in our democracy. It is mandated to give justice to whom it is due. But we are now in a situation where some corrupt members of the Bench collude with powerful politicians to remove and emplace those rejected at the polls. The Nigerian Judiciary is now a self-styled “power broker”.

Nigeria is not the only country where the courts are called upon to adjudicate in electoral cases. Even in the United States where we copied our presidential system from, the courts had their hands full at the end of the 2020 controversial elections. Back home in Africa, the Kenya Supreme Court was saddled with adjudicating a presidential election outcome, and it delivered justice to the true winner of the August 9, 2022 presidential election, William Ruto.

Arise TV, Sue NBC; Do It Now!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

Something terrible is happening to Nigerians. It is not that they are being beaten that bothers me so much. It is that they no longer react, no matter how they are pummelled. Shockingly, the media appears to have become a victim of this.

There is an ongoing certificate and identity scandal which has been described in a foreign court as a “Nigerian thing”. Do you blame them? Our president’s name is on it. When misguided teenager, Mmesoma’s JAMB result forgery was confirmed, the same yellow bellies who were all over her and even dragged her ethnic group into the scandal are now either mute or trying to twist a clear-cut court deposition out of shape.

Why Doesn’t Corruption Bother Us Anymore?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The recent disclosure by the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative, NEITI, of massive corruption in the oil sector under the government of Muhammadu Buhari has gone down the drain without causing the required stir. Neither the Federal Government nor the people whose money was allegedly looted has moved a nerve.

Nigeria has become a desensitised society. It is now akin to a sick person who no longer feels pain in his body. When you get to that level, you are almost dead. Just imagine! NEITI, the Nigerian chapter of a worldwide initiative to monitor corruption and promote transparency and accountability in the oil sector, recently addressed the media and made damning allegations.

Nigeria: From Buharisation To Tinubuisation

 By Ochereome Nnanna

When a woman marries twice, she is better placed to know which husband treated her better. As a country, Nigeria has married two husbands since 1999: the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC. No doubt, we experienced a far better Nigeria under the PDP than the APC. This claim has nothing to do with partisanship. Whatever evil the PDP committed, the APC regimes have multiplied them tenfold and added fresh, vile inventions of their own.

*Buhari and Tinubu 

The PDP was founded by political leaders who tried to use the outcomes of the Abacha Constitutional Conference to build an improved democracy and governance system. The PDP was built on the foundation of equitable power sharing and rotation, as well as the Federal Character Principle enshrined in Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as agreed at the Conference.

Kayode Fayemi: A Witch’s Confession

 By Ochereome Nnanna

I have noticed the tendency of elements of the Tinubu political family to confess the perfidy their group commits in the process of “grabbing, snatching, and running away” with power. In my new book, Buhari: Tinubu: How They Snatched and Shared Power, Pa Ayo Adebanjo claimed that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a governorship aspirant of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, in Lagos in December 1998, disrupted primaries in some of his opponents’ strongholds, which led to the abortion of the governorship primaries in those areas.

*Fayemi

The guidelines for the primaries said the exercise should be cancelled wherever there was a crisis. Tinubu capitalised on this loophole and defeated his closest rival, Funsho Williams, whose name had already been submitted by the state chairman of the AD, Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu, as the winner.

NLC And The Big ‘War’ Ahead

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is saddled with three mandates. The first is the classical or labour mandate – fighting for the interests of the working class. The second is the social mandate – protecting the interests of the masses in an environment where the ruling elite have increasingly become more selfish, corrupt and incompetent than ever.

It was under the presidency of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole that NLC assumed the social mandate on behalf of Nigerians who were subjected to series of fuel price hikes by the Olusegun Obasanjo government. These measures affected the workers and the general public equally, so Oshiomhole led Labour to bravely tackle the Obasanjo government. From that moment on, the people started looking up to Labour to deploy for them whenever government introduced policies that stoked hardship.

Dismantling Of Muhammadu Buhari

 By Ochereome Nnanna

I have just published a book on Amazon titled: Buhari: Tinubu – How They Snatched and Shared Power. It has not yet been formally unveiled, but it will be, very soon. It is an analytical reportage and documentation of the politics and intrigues (which spanned over 30 years) that produced the dethronement of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and emergence of Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu as presidents. 

*Buhari 

When you read this book, you will not be surprised at what is happening to the relationship between President Tinubu and his predecessor and political ally, Buhari. Even before he launched his presidential campaign last year, Tinubu promised to continue Buhari’s legacies. Is he doing so now? On the contrary, Tinubu is dismantling Buhari’s heritage.

Where Is Tinubu’s Executive Capacity?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

Even before what became the All Progressives Congress, APC, was formed, I knew it would be a disaster. I prayed for the merger not to work. But my prayers were not answered. The merger not only worked, the party won the 2015 presidential election with Muhammadu Buhari as president. Buhari’s presidency, according to the APC pact, was to be succeeded by a Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency. When Buhari was about to finish his eight years of inept and extreme nepotism rule, he tried to block Tinubu’s turn to “rule”. 

*Tinubu

Tinubu went to Abeokuta and wailed: Yoruba l’okan( “It is Yoruba’s turn”); Emi l’okan!(“It is my turn”). When Buhari saw that the Northern APC Governors were all for Tinubu, he had no choice but to bring out his full powers of incumbency to install his political partner. You may ask: why would I, a columnist of 29 years standing, discredit a political party, the APC, even before it was formed? My answer is simple. 

Chasing Rats In Niger Republic

By Ochereome Nnanna

When the immediate former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, came to power in January 2017, he took stock of the situation the country was in. Over the decades, warlike America had become war-torn though the fighting was always on foreign land. It spends an average of $1 trillion on defence and wars annually. Its troops were mired all over the Middle East and Asia, especially in such countries as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Trump, who campaigned on a mantra of Making America Great Again, MAGA, decided to de-escalate belligerence. The troops must come home. America must make peace with its traditional foes – Russia, China, North Korea and others. America must suspend its “big brother” role to the European Union and let them shift for themselves, at least for the time being. America must rebuild the coal-fired energy sector and revamp abandoned towns. America must rebuild its broken philosophical and cultural foundations and become America once again.

Dokubo Asari’s Sinister Dance

 By Ochereome Nnanna

True friends of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should call him aside and whisper wisdom into his ears with regards to his dalliance with Niger Delta “repentant” militant and self-acclaimed “Biafra fighter”, Dokubo Asari. This is not the first time I am raising this issue on this forum. And which way you look at it  this “friendship” is bound to end in regret. Not much was known of the relationship between Tinubu and Asari until the latter confessed in several media outings that Tinubu once helped him when he was facing the consequences of his armed activities in the creek.

*Asari

Dokubo Asari can posture as anything, depending on the direction his current interest is looking. We call it  anywhere belle face  in popular Nigerian parlance. Asari’s garrulity especially in the social media has laid bare almost everything about him for those who care to pay him any attention. He claimed that his grandfather, a hunter, migrated from Abam in Abia State to Kalabari land. According to him, the hunter magically transformed into a slave merchant specialising in selling his fellow Igbo to the White man. Mind you, he has never provided any proof of his claims. Asari is more of mouth. In contrast, Tompolo is more of effective action.

Lagos: Mudashiru Obasa’s War Agenda

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, is on a war footing. He has just been unanimously re-elected for the third time as Speaker. As an inner chamber member of the Bola Tinubu political family, his declared legislative agenda can rightly be read as Tinubu’s new agenda for Lagos after losing the presidential election in the state.

*Obasa

Tinubu’s Lagos is different from what we see in other states. For instance, the governor (whoever he is) does not have freedom of vision. He can only take initiatives within the script already written for him. And so, one would expect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to seek Tinubu’s support before asking Muhammadu Buhari to send in the Army to quell the Lekki Toll Gate protests on October 20, 2020.

What Did Sanwo-Olu Come To Lagos With?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The first story is about a young Nigerian 45 years ago, and you see the coincidence in the story, 45 years ago, a young Nigerian came to Lagos all the way from another mega-city, Kano, who saw the prosperity, and diversity of our country, who came with nothing but in 45 years has built the biggest empire in the world — Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State.

*Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu

Ordinarily, this statement, which Governor Sanwo-Olu made amidst befitting accolades for Alhaji Aliko Dangote for finally delivering the world’s largest refinery in Lagos, should not raise eyebrows. So, why is it arousing mixed feelings? The reason is obvious. It is a bitter reminder of the fallout of the just-concluded elections, particularly in Lagos, where Sanwo-Olu, his political principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his political party, APC, used ethnic bigotry and violence to save themselves from being shipped out of power by Lagos residents who are tired of their oppressive rule.

Census In Lagos, Count Me Out!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The recently concluded election in Nigeria was an eye-opener for people of Igbo stock living in Lagos, especially those who slumbered in blissful ignorance of the peculiar situation that this ethnic group finds itself in Nigeria. In June, July 2017, a group that called itself Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, led by one Yerima Shettima, issued a quit notice to Igbo people living in the North.

Their offence: the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was demanding for a referendum to enable Ndi Igbo and other interested ethnic groups in the South-South to quit Nigeria. This was IPOB’s response to Muhammadu Buhari’s extreme nepotism targeted against them, as well as the violent activities of land-grabbing Fulani militants masquerading as herdsmen. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and Governor Nasir el-Rufai threatened to arrest Yerima and his cohorts. Some of the AYCF hoodlums even dared them to come. IGP Idris and el-Rufai barked but did not bite.

Lagos: Just As I said!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

When strong presidential candidates of Igbo and Yoruba extractions, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, respectively, emerged from the primaries in the just concluded general elections 2023, I knew we were in for some trying times. I wrote on this several times. I warned that Lagos would be the worst hotbed of tensions.

*Peter Obi shakes hands with Bola Tinubu

While the tensions in other parts of the country would be political in nature, I reasoned that that of Lagos would be both political and ethnic. Some of the Yoruba elements would be programmed by desperate politicians who had lost the love of their people to beef the Igbo. The objective would be to unsettle the nationalistic Obidient Movement by stirring anti-Igbo sentiments in Lagos, and hopefully save Tinubu and his APC from losing power in the nation’s economic capital.